


Tales of The Surface And The Deep

by Hereisthere_gg



Series: Tales of The Sea and The Deep [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: De-Aged Characters, F/M, Mermaid/Merman AU, no pirates, not your conventional ML mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-03-10
Updated: 2017-03-10
Packaged: 2018-10-02 03:37:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10208714
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hereisthere_gg/pseuds/Hereisthere_gg
Summary: "They've all interacted with one, one way or the other. All except them.So, they set out.They set out to find a mermaid.They don't find one. Or, they don't find amaid."Hello!" He chirps, smile bright as the sun. "I'm Adrien!"They stare. They blink.Marinette screams. Chloé hurries to shush her, eyes wide with her own surprise.Adrien tilted his head at the panicking girls, tail curling nervously. Maybe he should just leave-"A mermaid!" Marinette screams. "We found a mermaid!"His eyebrow twitched. "A merman," he corrects. "I'm a merman."Chloé raises an eyebrow skeptically. "You don't look like a man. You look like a kid.""I am a kid!""Exactly."





	1. On Days Like These

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posting on my amino! I actually post things there that I don't post here whoops I'll fix that

A small head of hair, as bright a yellow as the sun, rose above the outcropping of rocks -boulders, more like- and large blue eyes peeked over. She wandered and tiptoed her way round the rough terrain in her black Mary Jane's, yellow dress with a black belt held up by small hands. She walked down until the tall grass -slightly itchy against her white tights- around the rocks faded into sand, and further still until her shoes sunk into the wet sand and she was forced to go back and set them on a rock, grumbling something about her memory.

The little girl crouched, just at the water's edge. The warm wind flew through her hair, held up by a ponytail and a small band with a bee charm on it. She stood up once again, stockings sinking into the sand. It was an unpleasant feeling to her, to have to work so hard just to walk.

Chloé Bourgeois has made it a habit to come here. When her sick mother was too sick to visit and when her father was gone too long on trips, she would escape from her babysitters and come here. The calm of the sea and the quiet of the forgotten beach did good for her frazzled nerves. She hated snapping so much, it was stressful on the little girl, and she discovered that this haven helped with that little problem.

She kept walking until she discovered another outcropping of rocks, these rising above the water's surface. She tilted her head, finding some sharp and others strangely flat and smooth. She found a game she could play, small feet covered by a thin silk leaping between the wet rocks.

Just when she was worrying about the thought of slipping, she did, the world spinning before her wide blue eyes, wind whooshing by her ears, balance upset. She suddenly broke into the surface of the water, ears clogged and the wub of water flooding her head, body suddenly cold before it could register a general and panic-inducing feeling of wetness.

She experienced half a second of wetness before her head hit a too-close rock, world fading around her.

\- - - ~....~~~~~~~~~

Chloé opened her eyes.

Grey sky, dotted with sad clouds, greeted her.

She blinked before sitting up slowly, memory returning to her. She fell into the water, presumably hit her head against a rock, knocking her out. She should be dead.

Her dress stuck to her annoyingly as she stood, heavy with water and clothes (And hair, she noted bitterly.) gritty with sand. Her pantyhose had tears.

She grumbled, trying to dust some of it off before noting with a note of intrigue that her belt was gone. Puzzled, she glanced at the offending outcropping of rocks in question, but no answer was found. She only shrugged before following her half-washed out footprints, intent on going home to fake concern and overzealous -and again, fake- apologies, so much stuff she had no idea what to do with all of it, and a lack of affectionate attention after that.

Staring out to the rolling waves, holding her Mary Jane's loosely in one hand as a storm brew in the distance, she felt a pang of sorrow that brought tears to her eyes when she realized she she didn't want to go. A warm wind brushed her face, almost soothing. She sighed, swallowed the feeling, and began her trek back home.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Plagg-"

"-ha, your dad would kill you-"

Adrien pouted. "-but-"

"He hates it when you go anywhere near the surface, but go all the way and mess with a human?!" Plagg laughed harder, sharp teeth glinting. "He would kill you!"

"...so would mom..." Adrien worried his bottom lip and groaned helplessly. And if they knew he's been going to the surface and watching her for a while? The punishment was unspeakable. He shivered at the thought.

"You're in big trouble! How are you gonna explain your way out of this?" How sharks could have a shiteating grin, Adrien had no idea, but wow, Adrien was so annoyed by Plagg's shiteating grin.

"...a shark." Adrien said, green eyes shifting somewhere else. Plagg turned deadpan at an alarming speed.

"Sharks don't wander out this close to shore-at least, not the threatening ones."

"I'll say that one was threatening me."

"Not even the new sharks showing up are dangerous, Adrien. That's not going to fool anyone."

Adrien groaned, holding his face in his hands, body flipping in the water in anxiety and stress. "What do you want me to do?! I can't think of anything!"

"I have an idea." Plagg grinned and Adrien felt slight fear. Plagg's ideas were never good. "come on-"

"Oh, no." Adrien peeked through his fingers. "Should I swim?"

"...probably." Adrien groaned yet again and let his hands fall to his sides.

"Right...right, okay, whatever you say."


	2. Marinette

"Chloé, I said don't touch!" Marinette said sharply, snatching her homemade doll away. "She's mine!" Straightening out the doll's white, lace trimmed apron against the ruby red skirt, Marinette held the doll close and glared at the offending blonde. The girl only scoffed.

"Whatever, I can get way better than that trash!" She said, laughing. Tossing one, final snobbish look over her shoulder, Chloé Bourgeois left her company, maybe to mess with some of the other kids. Marinette cast her back one last withering look before setting Tikki in one of the dollhouse chairs again, straightening her strawberry-colored yarn hair and fixing her black boots.

"Tikki, you're beautiful," Marinette whispered. "Don't listen to her." Ah, but if only she could tell herself that.

Someone she recognized at the new kid sat next to her in a flurry of motion, glasses askew and breath coming in huffs. Judging from the shouting coming from where she came from, (Nino, Marinette recognized.) she came back from a scuffle.

"Hi!" She said, and took her hand, Marinette finding herself frozen in her spot. "I'm Alya. This is my first time here -I just moved here- so I hope we can be good friends!" Alya grinned wide.

Marinette managed to stutter, "Uhh, w-welcome to my école."

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

"Well, it isn't everyday that your teacher is late," Plagg offered helpfully. "Let's book it while we can."

"Really?" Adrien asked, raising a light eyebrow at Plagg. "I don't think I can get away with that."

"Nope, but that makes it more fun~"

Adrien sighed, looking inside of his bed again. Nope, still wasn't there. "I'm serious, Plagg. If I don't find this-"

"Find what," Plagg asked, exasperated. "What have you been looking for?"

"My-my ring! Remember?!" Adrien all but demanded. "You know, the one you gave me?!"

"Oh, that old thing." Plagg yawned, and Adrien had to resist the urge to throw the shell comb he was gripping into the shark's gaping maw. "Well, it's always in the last place you look."

"That's because you find it in the last place you look!!"

\- - - - - - - - - -

Marinette didn't like the ocean all that much.

And yes, it had everything to do with almost drowning. She'd decided then, mysteriously reappearing on the beach, that she hated the dark depths.

So when Sabrina began lithely making her way down to the beach, Tikki in hand, she hesitated for the longest moment.

But, _Tikki._

So she followed, with much less agility.

\-------~~~~~~~

"What were you stressing about, again?" Plagg asked lazily, fins swishing in the water. "And why are we going back to land?"

"I don't know," Adrien said, watching how his ring shone with the sunlight. "I just wanted to."

"I thought you said you couldn't skip?"

"I don't think she was going to show up anyway," the corner of Adrien's lip quirked in a small smirk. "And that would've been a wasted opportunity, right?"

"I'm a terrible influence."

"Yes, yes you are."

~~~~~~~~~~____________

"Here!" Sabrina taunted, dangling the doll over the edge of a particularly tall rock. "Or here!" She dangled it on the other side. Marinette whined helplessly as she bounced from side to side; she needed her doll back.

Sabrina, suddenly deciding that she was done with playing around, laughed maliciously before winding her arm back and throwing the strawberry-haired thing to the gently rolling waves.

She giggled as she passed Marinette, the dark-haired child frozen in place. A minute passed before the little girl felt wetness rolling down her cheeks, and a few seconds later when she sunk to the soft sand, sounds of sadness flowing from her throat.

\-------~~~~~~~~~~~

"That was rude," Plagg grumbled, the thing the orange-haired girl threw landing on his back. He shook it off resolutely, but Adrien grabbed it before it could sink further down.

"She..." He tilted his head. "She's sad." He squeezed the doll, which was like a doll, but not like any he'd seen. "This is hers."

"So?" Plagg did a shark's impression of a raised eyebrow. "What're you gonna do about it? You gonna throw it?"

Adrien wrinkled his nose and grinned. "I'm not throwing it and you know it."

Plagg only bared his razor-like teeth in a grin.  
_  
\-----------------  
Marinette had given up on the prospect of getting Tikki back, the gray, sorrowful waves having swallowed up the little girl's good luck charm. She climbed to her feet slowly, sniffling; she'd better go home and tell Maman and Papa what happened.

Just as she turned her back, she spotted red on the edge of her vision. Turning around so fast she lost her balance, Marinette gasped as her doll came back to her, floating on the water's surface and gliding on a wave that looked to be meant just for it.

But...that was impossible, Marinette thought. Her doll sunk earlier. Tikki can't float.

But she didn't question it any further as she ran to meet her doll, small socked feet sinking into the wet sand and giving her an unpleasant feeling between her toes and bringing up bad memories. She ignored that, and the water around her knees as she fell into the sand, hugging Tikki tight.

~~~~~~~~~~

Adrien sighed and grinned, lowering his arms. "I love doing that," he sighed. Plagg snickered.

"Okay, sure." Adrien shot Plagg a look, which only made the bigger fish laugh harder. "Whatever," Plagg regained himself, mirth in his black orbs. "Well, it was rightfully hers anyway."

"...o...okay..." Adrien caught Plagg's tone, which obviously held a depth that he was not going to reveal to him. He huffed water out of his nose in frustration, crossing his arms and bringing his tail up close, shooting Plagg a dark look.

"What's with the 'spoiled brat' look, kid?" Ah, sometimes he hated Plagg. He relaxed, sighing in annoyance.

"Whatever, let's just go home."


	3. The Cove

Alya has not had a good relationship with mermaids in her life.

Her class all spoke of their experiences with them: Alix's father has a watch that he's going to pass down to her that he got from a mermaid; Rose is actually 1/6 mermaid (though her grandmother has a fading memory), and so on; she couldn't care less.

The only one who puzzled her was Nino.

He didn't speak of them. He casually slid from the conversation, as if he was never there, when they were mentioned.

He liked the class fish. A lot.

A lot.

Alya raised an eyebrow when she once again spotted Nino staring at the goldfish's bowl. Sighing, she dragged her feet as she caught hold of Nino's collar.

"-what-"

"You're weird," Alya said curtly, fed up. "You avoid people when they talk about the swimming-the mermaids," She refrained from saying 'swimming demons'- what her father and grandmother called them- and bit her lip. "And you stare at that fish all the time."

"Uhh..." Nino blinked. "...So?"

So? "So?" ...where was she going with this? Alya furrowed her eyebrows impossibly further, her lips forming a thin line.

"Yeah. What's your point?"

"...nothing." She sighed, letting him go. He blinked at her, dark eyebrow raised as if saying, "You're the weird one," before slinking away.

_____~~~~~~~

Chloé was once again visiting the beach, but she had a reason.

Everyone in her class always talked about mermaids. And they all talked about this beach as the primary spot. She set her Mary Jane's on the boulder-rock, as she's been doing for almost a year by now, and slid her socks off, stuffing them into the black shoes.

She set out for a cove she's always seen but never visited, cold sand squishing between her little feet. Mermaids always like coves, right? A common thing: Mermaid Cove, Peter Pan. It must be based on some kind of truth.

_____~~~~~~~

Marinette liked mermaids a lot. But, as far as she knew, no one in her family has ever interacted with one, like a lot of the other kids in her class.

So, she decided to take the matter into her own hands. Sliding on a swimsuit under her clothes and a heavy hoodie over it--to not be found out; she wasn't exactly supposed to be going to the beach--she set out to find her a mermaid.  
_____~~~~~~~

"Adrien," Plagg whined, fin swishing somewhat annoyingly. "I want to go home~"

"No, Plagg!" Adrien hissed, adjusting the human-made bag on his shoulder. "I just need something really quick."

"Why did I have to come along, though?" Plagg huffed water from his nostrils, gills twitching in agitation. "I could've just stayed home. You're going to that cove, right?" Plagg did some kind of magic with his facial features, that resulted in some kind of imitation of furrowed eyebrows and narrowed eyes. "I can't swim in that shallow thing. I doubt you can, too."

"Pssh, I can." Adrien waved a hand dismissively. "I've been there before."

_____~~~~~~~

Chloé gasped at the cove.

With the overhanging rock formation, glittering with old minerals shaped with time, sparkling water that reflected the light of the minerals and the ones below its surface--rocks the size of boulders and as sharp as scissors taller than her, all glowing with what seemed to be diamonds with how they sparkled so--

Her breath was taken away.

"Chloé?!"  
_____~~~~~~~

Marinette was nothing short of shocked to see Chloé, her nemesis, here of all places. The blue-haired girl narrowed her eyes and put we hands on her hips. "What are you doing here?"

Chloé didn't look unlike a deer in headlights for a few moments before gathering herself and flipping her hair. "I'm looking for a mermaid, if you must know."

"Funny," Marinette smirked. "So am I."

Chloé raised a golden eyebrow. "Is that a threat?"

"No, not unless you want it so be," Marinette layered sweetness onto her tone. Chloé glared.

"Fine, have it your way." And she turned on her stockinged heel, stomping further into the cove.  
_____~~~~~~~

Adrien frowned contemplatively, hands unconsciously tightening on the strap of the bag. He could wait them out--humans always left further inland after a while--or he could just say "screw it" and go as fast as he could; the cove with the minerals he wanted was in another section of this opening. He could be spotted, though.

"Kid, there's a seventy percent chance you aren't going to make it. Let's just go home-"

"Well," Adrien sighed. "Let's rely on that thirty percent, yeah?"

"Kid, don't be an idiot-"

~~~~~~_________

Marinette stomped after Chloé smart response in her tongue, ready to strike, but her uncovered feet slipped on the rocky ground of the cove and her arm made painful contact with the ground before falling into the water head first.

It wasn't that deep. But it was too deep for her, little girl who couldn't get anywhere near the bottom without being in severe danger. She saw glimpses of the sparkling rocks that lined the bottom of the water, eyes closing, lungs constricting painfully-

A dark figure entered her vision. It was scary, she didn't know what it was--a shark?! An eel?! What was it?! Marinette flailed, not ready to give up yet, even when she accidentally breathed water and flew into a panic, everything suddenly hurting; even when warm things, a stark contrast to the cold, enveloped her; even when she broke the surface of the water. She sputtered and coughed harshly, enough to pop a lung it seemed, but she continued fighting against whatever she could.

"Hey-" that wasn't Chloé!! "-stop-I-can't-"

Suddenly the warm arms were gone, as she finally registered her own scream as she fell into the water again.

"Marinette!" That was Chloé! She moved in the general direction of the voice, away from whatever was holding her. She pushed and shoved against--a face?? "Marinette, stop! Stop, Marinette!! Marinette-"

She stopped. Two sighs could be heard as the sharp swishing of water stopped.

She peeked a blue eye open. Green that rivaled the grass in her backyard greeted her. "Hello!" He said cheerfully.

She screamed again.


End file.
